L.A. NOW Southern California — this just in « Previous Post | L.A. NOW Home | Next Post » Wal-Mart pepper-spray attack caused ‘total pandemonium,’ says LAPD November 29, 2011 | 8:31 am 21Los Angeles police detectives described a chaotic scene when a woman pepper-sprayed 20 shoppers during a Wal-Mart Black Friday sale. Authorities said they received a call around 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night to report that someone had discharged pepper spray at a videogame display at the Porter Ranch Wal-Mart, where the store was offering games at half their normal $60 price. “Once the wrapping came off the pallets, there was total pandemonium,” said Det. Mike Fesperman. LAPD Capt. Chris Pitcher said the department is also looking into larger issues of deep-discount promotions and how to better protect the safety of customers. “This is something we are going to look and talk about,” said Pitcher. “We want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.” Authorities had originally called the woman a “competitive shopper” who allegedly had used pepper spray to get merchandise she wanted. But on Monday officials said they were not clear on her motive. Lt. Tim Torsney said that central to the investigation is trying to determine “the suspect’s state of mind at the time the incident took place.” It’s possible she believed she was using the pepper spray in self-defense, officials said. “I’m not saying it was right. It could have been a situation that she was in fear for her safety, that she would be crushed,” said LAPD Det. Mike Fesperman. “It comes down to whether it was a matter of self-preservation or she was trying to gain access to the games.” He said detectives have interviewed 14 witnesses and want to talk to 10 more shoppers. They are also examining store security video and a video posted on YouTube. He said people can be heard on audio from the video saying “I’m being trampled, I’m being crushed.” Fesperman said a “mob mentality” prevailed at the store that night. “It was a very chaotic situation.” One legal expert said it could be a challenge to bring criminal charges against the woman who allegedly used the spray. Defense attorney Dmitry Gorin said the key question is whether the woman used the spray to intentionally cause harm or if she believed she was using it to defend herself. “Witness interviews regarding the circumstances surrounding the use of the pepper spray hold the key to whether this woman’s actions were criminal or legally justified,” Gorin said. “In a riot-type atmosphere at midnight on Black Friday, there may have been a literal frenzy among the shoppers. The woman in question had the right to use pepper spray if she reasonably intended to prevent serious injuries to herself or other shoppers.” Detectives plan to interview as many victims and witnesses to the incident as they can before deciding whether to seek criminal charges. “We have a ton of witnesses and victims to interview,” said LAPD Officer Bruce Borihanh. Witnesses described a chaotic scene to The Times. Alejandra Seminario, 24, said she was waiting in line to grab some toys at the store about 9:55 p.m. when people nearby started shouting and ripping at the plastic wrap encasing gaming consoles. The store was supposed to open at 10. “People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray,” the Sylmar resident said. “I guess what triggered it was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes.”

This is the question we’ve been asked more than anything else since the launch. And I’m quite happy to report that we’re not under any type of NDA from AMD, since they didn’t supply an AMD FX test unit to us, as promised in September. (Not that I’m complaining, I’m sure they have their reasons for not supporting the Canadian Customer System Builders with future or current product samples).

This is going to be the shortest, sweetest comparison for AMD FX processors you’ll find on the web. I don’t hope that this will discourage any reader from buying AMD, but I hope it will raise a few questions before a major purchase is made.

The actual data for these comparisons are based on AMD’s Phenom II x4 955 Quad Core and FX 8120 8 Core processor.

Both chips are tested on the same rig, consisting of:

Asus Sabertooth 990fx with 0810 Beta Bios
8gb GSkill Sniper 1866 (2x4gb) 9-10-9-28 timings
2x Mushkin Callisto 60gb SATA II ssd’s in RAID0

In both cases, the CPU is cooled by the Antec Kuhler 620 Liquid Cooler.

First: Cinebench Multicore CPU Test (click for screenshot)

Phenom II Factory Clock Baseline Score: 4.25
FX 8120 Factory Clock Baseline Score: 5.01

Best overclock with test completed:
Phenom @ 4.02ghz Score: 4.56
FX 8120 @ 3.62ghz (Best Score): 5.90
FX 8120 @ 4.02ghz (Best Clock): 5.65

Clear winner is the FX 8120, however we’re looking at AMD’s “True 8 Core Unlocked Processor” vs. the same manufacturer’s aging quad core with locked multipliers.  At the very least, this product should perform 100% faster than the Phenom II,  given this is a multicore processing benchmark.

Incidentally, Cinebench numbers not generated by me for Intel’s socket 1366 i7 960 @ 3.2ghz is a score of 5.48, far higher than the factory clocked 8120 and not too far off of the 8120′s best score.

Winner: 8120 (kinda)

Second: SuperPI

There is so much controversy about SuperPI times, that I’m going to keep this in one paragraph:  1M times from Phenom II x4 @ 3.75ghz is 19 seconds.  1M times from FX 8120 @ 3.75ghz is 24 seconds.

Winner: Phenom II

Third: Prime95

Some Most would say that Prime95 is a great stability tool, but not a benchmark.  I say nay, nay.  This is my favorite tool to check stability at factory and overclock speeds, and check max temps.

Unfortunately I cannot give you solid data from Prime95, because the 8120 had atleast 1 core fail within 30 minutes on every test – even at factory settings.  12h temps maxed at 36 C factory and 66 C at 4.02 ghz.

The Phenom II however churns out numbers for as long as you’d have it go, with max temps of 32 C at factory and 58 C at 4.02 ghz.

Winner: Phenom II

Finally, and in closing, I hope you the reader can get an understanding for why we just feel a bit let down by AMD.  Not because we were promised a tester that wasn’t delivered on, not because the Unlocked FX CPU doesn’t get a much higher STABLE clock (under normal circumstances) than a locked multiplier Phenom II, but because we were promised so much (remember the comic book?) from AMD and even after lengthy delays, the only benefit our technicians could find to owning an FX 8120 over a Phenom II is being able to say you have more cores than your friends.

Maybe Intel will toss us a 2700k and an Asus Sabertooth P67 to add to this review.  Maybe we’ll foot the bill ourselves and show you what an extra $80 gets you.

Overall Winner: Intel (It turns out the new best value may also be the best performer) :p

There’s lots of guide to building your own computer readily available online. This is part one of a series that will outline the RAW Computers system build, part two will detail the software and testing involved in the process.

The system used for this example is our recent Boxing Day special, which was powered by an AMD Athlon II x4 640 and included 8gb of DDR3 memory and ATI Radeon HD 4250 integrated video.

The following gallery of images will give a visual step by step of putting a PC together.

All in all, this takes an experienced yet careful technician about 30 minutes to complete. (About 45 minutes if taking step by step photo’s!).

Next we’re going to take a look at setting up the BIOS/CMOS settings (date/time, popular customizations) and loading Windows 7 Home Premium from an image. Stay tuned for Part 2!

Didn’t get the computer you needed for work, school, or just plain old fun this Christmas?

DON’T WORRY!

It is not to late to get the best deal this holiday season!

Boxing day has passed, but RAW Computers Boxing Week computer sales are going right through to 11:59pm Friday Dec 31st!

Check out www.RAWComputers.ca/products and don’t miss out on the best prices ever on the best computers ever!

Did you get a new computer for Christmas that you just don’t know what to do with?

Does your HP, Dell, Acer or other brand desktop or laptop have tons of useless software that’s slowing down your computer and causing pop-ups?

Were you surprised to discover your new computer didn’t come with Microsoft Office 2010 or an Anti-Virus Subscription?

Dec 23, 2010, Mississauga, 3:25pm EST

RAW Computers of Mississauga has just announced this year’s best boxing day computer sale.

For only $730 Canadian Dollars (CAD) including Tax (HST) a very limited number of lucky buyers can own a very special system.

Tagged as “Our Best Deal Ever” (and they aren’t kidding) this AMD Athlon II Quad Core Powered machine boasts 8gb of DDR3 Memory, a 1 TB (terabyte) Hard Disc Drive, DVD RW Burner, HD Graphics by ATI, keyboard and mouse, and a beautiful 20″ LCD Monitor with built in speakers by ASUS.

The machine comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, as well as other standard RAW Computers system configuration and document editing software.

To top that off, a 2 Year Manufacturer Defect Warranty is included (a free 1 year upgrade from the company’s standard warranty) as well as annual PC Check-Up / Tune-Up Services included for your new computer for 2 years (owners responsibility to bring the computer back to RAW for service).

When asked why and how RAW Computers can provide such a great deal, owner and founder Adam Shepherdson replied “We just want to make sure EVERYBODY can get their hands on a powerful, reliable and affordable computer this year. This system isn’t really about the money, it’s about giving back to the community that’s given so much to us.”

The full system can be seen with full specifications at http://www.rawcomputers.ca/boxing/

Did you know you can easily get a copy of all the information Facebook has about you?

Just log into your account, click on “Account” (a little drop box at the top right of your screen) and then click account settings. Click on “learn more” next to “Download Your Information”.

The nice people at facebook will start compiling all the information and pictures you’ve posted into one huge file, and will email you when it is ready to download.

Keep in mind, this may contain very sensitive and personal information, so after you’ve reviewed it make sure it’s stored in a safe place, protected with a password or just delete it!

This is from the Craigslist.org server issues page (http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/system-status.html)….

current issues

317: cupgrade – System maintenance tonight 10pm PST
Updated Mon, Dec 20 – 20:08 PST
We will be doing some maintenance tonight starting at 10pm PST. During this time you will be unable to post. Certain other parts of the site will also be unavailable. Users are advised to watch the lunar eclipse instead.

Use our new tool on the left hand side of the page for quick, easy and affordable .com, .ca, .net, .org, .info and all other extension Domain Name URL Registrations.

Canada’s best price for .ca domains – only $12.88 / year!

Brought to you by RAW Computers and NamesPro.ca.

Offical Launch of the RAW Complete Gaming Solutions – so much more than just computer systems. Factory Tuning and Overclocking as well as an Enhanced Gamer’s Warranty all included!

See all the great new systems at http://www.rawcomputers.ca/raw-complete-gaming-solutions-computer-systems-and-bundles